CORONAVIRUS patients could have their treatment withdrawn in favour of saving those more likely to survive with doctors warned they may have to ration life-saving equipment, according to new medical guidance.

We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Doctors have been warned they will have to start making difficult decisions and decide which patients will be given life-saving resources, such as ventilators. In a document issued by the British Medical Association (BMA), health professionals were advised they could be forced to ration care if the NHS becomes overwhelmed with patients during then coronavirus pandemic. It comes as the UK saw its biggest daily rise in deaths so far, after the death toll rose by 563 in a single day on Wednesday.

Coronavirus UK: Doctors have been given guidance on how to prioritise life-saving equipment (Image: Getty)

Coronavirus UK: The new Nightingale hospital in east London is ready to accept patients (Image: PA)

The guidance states: “Health professionals may be obliged to withdraw treatment from some patients to enable treatment of other patients with a higher survival probability.

“This may involve withdrawing treatment from an individual who is stable or even improving but whose objective assessment indicates a worse prognosis than another patient who requires the same resource.”

The document explains the guidance has been issued as the peak of the outbreak may leave scarce resources.

It states: "It is possible that serious health needs may outstrip availability and difficult decisions will be required about how to distribute scarce life-saving resources."